But nature asserted herself, and ere she knew it she was fast asleep.
So intense and prolonged had been her previous excitement that, the tension once relieved, she passed into a slumber of exhaustion so deep that she seemed scarce to breathe.

High noon succeeded morning, the central shaft received a single ray of upper sunlight, the afternoon came and went, the shadows gathered below, the sunset fires began to eat their way through the groined roof, and she still slept.

She slept even when the bark hangings of the chamber were put aside, and the young man reentered.
He laid down a bundle he was carrying, and softly approached the sleeper.

For a moment he was startled from his indifference; she lay so still and motionless.

But this was not all that struck him; the face before him was no longer the passionate, haggard visage that confronted him that morning; the feverish air, the burning color, the strained muscles of mouth and brow, and the staring eyes were gone; wiped away, perhaps, by the tears that still left their traces on cheek and dark eyelash.